Life imitating Fiction

In reading a post by Harry Pierson (RSS) on his DevHawk blog I came across this statement where he was talking with the Australian DoD.

“We even got into some social aspects. For example, the battlefield leaders of tomorrow are in their teens today, so they are looking at how teens communicate today. They want their battle systems of the future present information optimally for those future leaders. Each generation tends to communicate differently than previous generations. His 16 year old doesn’t read or write well, but he can IM chat 6 people, send phone text messages and talk on the phone all at the same time. How will future battle systems leverage that ability. Fascinating.”  [DevHawk]

Whoa….did these guys read Ender’s Game?  This is great forward thinking on their part.  In the book First Meetings by Orson Scott Card (who details some of the first meetings of characters from Ender’s Game and the Ender saga) there is one story where they describe why they are testing children (like 5 and six year olds) for use by the International Fleet (IF).  They have discovered that children possess a level of innocence that can be drawn upon in time of war because they do what must be done without the immediate draw backs of conscience or guilt.  A child commander will not hesitate to make an order that will kill thousands because they simply do not comprehend what that means.  An adult on the other hand may falter, or hesitate because the gravity of what it means is very apparent to them.

By leveraging this innocence and desire to do what they are told (and do it well), the IF was able to generate a program and plan that saved the human race.  This is so very interesting that there are governments out doing this type of forward thinking.  Interesting and scary.